"Again let it shake out that this is a fabrication. I would hardly call missing a day or so at the national guard grounds for calling someone a "deserter" which is the term McAullife used. That is a massive fabrication"

Yeah, I don't think I did such a good job summing up at the end. Terry was stupid to call Bush a deserter. That's just nonsense that makes him look like an ass and it does bother me that a guy in his position is playing that game. It's up to the National Guard to call him a deserter and the fact is they have not. Now I don't think there's anything left to expose on this National Guard deal...I mean the big points are that he went in to avoid Vietnam and of course the Dem's want people to contrast that with Kerry going to Vietnam...that's fine and the point is made...and I guess the second point they want to show is that he got some sort of preferential treatment...which is sort of pointless because I would guess somewhere along the line Kerry probably got preferential treatment somewhere too.

I mean we're talking about a couple of guys that come from money and were well connected...no need to really belabor that point. Last I would say they want to expose Bush as a liar...catch him in a lie...which as strategy plays into the idea and general theme that he lied to the world on the WMD deal. I doubt they will find the piece of evidence on the guard issue that will prove Bush was "missing" for an extended period and at this point why bother except to keep Rove occupied with something other than throwing muck at Kerry. They have already proved that Bush is unwilling to be upfront and honest about his Guard duty so...for me anyway...I'm done with it. I know the media isn't and Terry's not but what can we do about that. I call this whole thing an extended distraction to keep Rove on his toes. The only thing I like about it is they seem to be beating Rove because the "genius" has not done a good job helping Bush handle it.

The Kerry deal seems to be getting more interesting because what may be going on here is the Kerry people are actually trying to track down who is responsible for this rumor and to hold them accountable. If they can pull that off that would be pretty wild. Right now I guess people are doing a lot of backtracking and nobody wants to take responsibility for this rumor. I guess this is why the major outlets are not saying anything because no one can find anything.

All the stories from Drudge and the European papers only say that people are looking into this...not that anything happened...and even the supposed parents comments only suggest Kerry called her but that there was no actual relationship. So, this is a no sex sex scandal where there are no facts, nobody willing to go on record, nobody willing to take responsibility for the rumor, no woman claiming to have had an affair with Kerry (I heard one story that all she did was give him her resume), about a 60 year old guy that was suffering from prostate cancer and who most people describe as very shy and very reserved. He did date Morgan Fairchild at one point though but I think that should be applauded.

I also have heard that they can't put Kerry and this woman in the same place at that same time except for 45 minutes once and that was the resume thing which seems to make sense with the story of him calling her at home to recruit her. Now I suppose they could have hooked up in that one 45 minute session (which I think they say was at his home in Boston and his wife was there) but it seems very unlikely. I think this is why the major news outlets are being so cautious with this. It's a huge story if someone can prove it...even bigger because Kerry denies it. I think if any news person at ABC or any where else can nail the story they will report it. News people can't resist this stuff. It's going to be even bigger if the story is false and the Kerry people can find out who launched it...and if it's someone on the Republican side...that will be ugly. 

Who knows at this point but looking at what we have it seems to be fabrication and the search now may not be for evidence Kerry scored but for who said this stuff in the first place...because what I hear is they want to hold them accountable. So yes, we'll need to see how it shakes out.